Asking questions in the right way is vital to reducing non-disclosure from people who are using ro have used weight loss drugs.
This is according to Adam Strange, life and health research and development manager at Swiss Re, who was presenting on the second day of Health & Protection’s Global Mobility and Health Summit in Easthampstead Park Hotel.
Strange (pictured) told delegates that a big issue for insurers was non-disclosure of weight loss treatments due to customers not realising they are drugs.
“Is it normal because they are unhealthy and have been on the drugs for a year and seeing big improvements,” Strange said.
“What the psychologists found is that GLP1s users, people who had an interest in life insurance, had a willingness to disclose their drug, only 28% of them were actually disclosing it.
“The other 72% failed to mention they were on the drug,” he added.
Strange maintained underwriters need to adapt underwriting questions accordingly as customers are confused over whether Ozempic for example is a lifestyle intervention rather than a drug.
By asking questions in different ways, the reinsurer was able to vastly increase awarness of and disclosure of using the medications.
“It’s actually an approach, a medication that needs to be disclosed,“ Strange continued.
“They were able to reverse that position and saw 86% of people were willing to disclose.
“People were willing to disclose to begin with, they just didn’t know that it was a drug. And that approach increased the willingness as well.
“Just asking the right questions in the same way that the industry has done with smoking has shown greater willingness for people on this medication to disclose.”